Cold Case Files: Vian man has been missing since he stepped out of his rural home in 2014 to make a phone call
- Dennis McCaslin
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In the early hours of March 16, 2014, Judge Dee Will walked out the back door of his home in the East Lake Hills area north of Vian.
He was 38 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed between 195 and 225 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He had a scar on his right ankle. He stepped outside near Tenkiller State Park to make a phone call.
No one has seen him since.
Will lived in a wooded rural spot east of the lake. That night, he had two men at his house. According to Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart, those men told deputies that Will went to the back porch for the call and never returned. Investigators interviewed them and labeled the case suspicious from the start.
The sheriff stated that the two men were persons of interest, and he believed they withheld information. No arrests followed.
Will's father, Jim Will from Tulsa, reported him missing on Tuesday, March 18. A large search started Thursday with about 30 officers, firefighters, and sheriff's personnel covering roughly 500 acres of dense woods. Teams moved on foot and four-wheelers. No trace of Will turned up—no clothing, no signs of struggle, no body.
The disappearance drew attention in local media. In January 2016, Jim Will announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to his son. He described Judge as a hard worker who would help anyone. Judge's teenage son, Cameron, then 15, said he would do anything to find his father.
The family held out for answers despite the silence.
The case remains open with the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office. Contact them at (918) 775-9155 or leave anonymous tips at (918) 404-4357 if you know anything.
Twelve years later, the wooded terrain around Tenkiller still holds the same secrets. No new leads have surfaced publicly, and the two men from that night have not faced charges.
The case sits as one of Sequoyah County's unresolved disappearances, marked by a sudden exit into the night and a complete absence of evidence afterward.
